Posts Tagged: "Influencers; millennial"

Supermodel Amanda Harvey and husband Jason with their twins at the Dolce & Gabbana Fall 2017 show (Photo courtesy of designer)

Thanks to millennial culture and an addiction for posting every move they make across several social media platforms, the rise of influencers and celebrity dressing has brought high end fashion to the masses. These fashionistas save every penny to be able to purchase the latest Gucci sneaker or Balenciaga hoodie. Staying ahead of the fashion flock has become a job in itself, as fashion darlings post their OOTD (outfit of the day) looks on Instagram and Snapchat. But now, having the latest “It” bag or shoe is not enough. For those wanting to ‘break’ the internet, the new ‘must-have’ accessory is a child. And as if that weren’t enough, you need to dress them in the same outfit as you! Your own personal ‘mini-me.’

Kim Kardashian and North West in matching Vetements dresses (Photo courtesy of Getty)

With the help of celeb parents such as Beyoncé/Kay Z and Kim Kardashian/Kanye West, the tiny doppelgänger trend is growing in popularity. Fashionable parents everywhere are posting their matchy-matchy looks all over social media. But this growing trend straddles that fine line between fashionably cute and obnoxious. And worse, it’s the blatant exploitation of children in order to increase social media likes and build a bigger brand for monetary gain. In 2015 Anna Wintour (according to Radar Online on Feb. 23, 2015) staged a fashion intervention with Kim, advising her to swap her daughter North’s (a toddler at the time) dreary wardrobe for pastels. The Vogue editrix couldn’t understand why KKW dressed her in all black. In fact, Winter thought it inappropriate for children to be dressed in dark colors at all.

Kim Kadashian, North West, Kanye West and Anna Wintour during Fashion week in 2015 , (Photo courtesy of AP)

While many agree with Wintour, that children should look like children, there is no denying that the designer childrenwear business is rapidly growing. A report by Global Industry Analysts, entitled Children’s Wear: A Global Strategic Business Report, predicts that the childrenswear market will be worth $291 billion (US) by the end of 2020. The report cited the increasing number of luxury labels catering to this segment as a key growth driver. High-end labels such as Gucci, Givenchy, Balenciaga, Dolce & Gabbana, Burberry, Stella McCartney and Christian Dior are cashing in on the children’s market, driven in part by what the report describes as the “growing exposure of children to media and the ensuing rise in materialism.”

Beyoncé and Blue Ivy in matching Gucci Source @beyonce

North West (daughter of Kim/Kanye) and Blue Ivy Carter (daughter of Beyoncé/Jay Z) have become key players in the mini-me trend, the pint-sized fashionistas and their moms wear matching designer looks often from labels such as Gucci, Vetements, and Balmain. It’s even rumored that Kim/Kanye’s son Saint is already wearing custom-made Lagerfeld. But it’s not only celebrity kids donning these pricy labels. The luxury childrenswear market is forecast to reach $6.6 billion in 2018, up by 3.8 percent year-on-year, according to Euromonitor, presenting ample growth opportunities as spending power increases and parents dish out upwards of $500 for a pair of miniature Gucci loafers to match their own.

@coco_pinkprincess Source Instagram

The growing popularity of the mini-me childrenswear trend is fueled by the allure of capturing that perfect Insta-moment. Fashionable Instagram kids are taking over and have a better sense of style than some adults. There is an Instagram phenomenon for the under 10 set. Take Coco (@coco_pinkprincess), a child from Tokyo, with over 674,000 followers on Instagram, who is regularly dressed up in designer looks from Gucci, Moschino and Balenciaga. Or there’s Ivan (@thegoldenfly), who is the son of designer Natasha Zinko, who made his street style debut at Paris Fashion Week Feb. 2017. His profile reads “I dress to depress” and his street style game is on-point as he’s regularly photographed in Supreme, Comme des Garçons, and Vetements.

Designer Natasha Zinko Introduces Her Son Ivan to the Street Style Crew at Paris Fashion Week (Photo courtesy of Vogue)

According to an article that ran in BOF on Oct 14, 2017, “People want to dress up their children to keep them fresh. Social media is making it easier to show pictures of your children, and parents and fashion labels are taking this demographic more seriously,” says David Park, an illustrator at Complex magazine, who launched a graphic alphabet book titled ‘ABC’s for the Little G’s’ earlier this year. Dedicated to ‘all the sneakerhead parents in the world’, Park’s book teaches toddlers their ABC’s via sneaker graphics: A is for Airmax, G is for Gucci, Y is for Yeezy… The book emphasizes a shift in perception: childrenswear is now cool. The market is currently worth $1.4 billion, according to Euromonitor, and the value of childrenswear in the U.S. is estimated to grow 8 percent by 2021, to $34 million. Luxury brands from Oscar de la Renta to Dolce & Gabbana have long produced childrenswear, but the category is booming with launches from labels like Givenchy, Yeezy and Balenciaga, giving it an extra level of street cred.

Givenchy Debut of Kids Collection (Photo courtesy of Givenchy)

Balenciaga Kids fall 2018 (Photo courtesy of Balenciaga)

The childrenswear market has become increasingly trend-oriented and at UoF, we are on top of the childrenswear trend as we offer an assortment if childrenswear lessons on the UoF website, ranging from drafting children’s pattern making slopers to how to draw children’s figures. Click of the link below to learn more about our childrenswear design lessons.

Millennials have become the generation of social media. Life doesn’t happen unless it’s on Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and the many other digital platforms embraced by today’s society. So naturally, fashion and beauty brands have been shelling out big bucks to engage influencers with the expectation that their followers buy the products that they’re peddling.

Bots have become one of the Internet’s ‘Most Wanted’ (Courtesy of WWD.Com)

But now, in an era that created ‘Fake News’, the fashion and beauty world have come to a realization….that many of these so called influencers are not influencers at all, that is, they have ‘fake followers.’

Ryan Babenzien of Greats (Courtesy of WWD.Com)

Greats, the premiere sneaker brand, was about to pay an Influencer marketing agency with 10.5 million followers a mid, six-figure sum for a long-term partnership. The influencer, who Gates declined to name, was set to design a capsule collection of woman’s footwear, but the deal never went through. According to a WWD article published on Feb. 13, 2018, Ryan Babenzien, founder and chief executive officer of Greats, discovered that the majority of the influencer’s followers were fake. “In doing due diligence, to get a better understanding of this person’s metrics — largely to make sure her followers aligned with the brand’s target audience — Babenzien was supplied with screenshots containing details about her Facebook and Instagram followings. When we mapped that over the world, we found that it was mathematically impossible for her to be as popular as she was and not have any of the 10 major cities in the 10 major countries be in her top 10 follower cities. It was impossible, Babenzien said. I don’t know if they paid for followers or if they are bots, but there wasn’t the alignment she had in followers from the cities that she was allegedly popular in.”

Fashion, beauty and retail brands around the globe have been allotting sizeable portions of their advertising budgets to influencers to create content for them. But as the industry studies influencers and their followers, they are beginning to understand that many of these numbers are fake. In many cases, inflated follower counts that result in campaigns that generate little return on investment.

According to a WWD article published on Feb. 13, 1018, “The fashion and beauty industries — as well marketing firms, public relations agencies and influencers who have come by their followings honestly — are up in arms about the matter, which they claim is tantamount to stealing from the brands paying them based on false information. Unfortunately, many firms discover this too late and only after shelling out tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. Or even worse, many are worried that dishonest content creators and bloggers will ruin it for the rest of the group by giving influencer marketing a bad rap. This means that brands, disappointed when campaigns underperform because influencers fail to generate the traction that someone with a following of their size is expected to, will begin to tighten their belts.”

Chiara Ferragni of The Blond Salad is the face of Pantene, she is a true influencer who has also created her own fashion label.

Brands must be savvy and investigate the influencers they chose to work with. For example, there may be some people who are really good at creating brand awareness, and maybe they have a ton of followers, but the exchange isn’t high, but then there may be smaller influencers who are able to push a lot of sales. So, it is important for brands to know who they are collaborating with and who their followers are. For example, Benefit Cosmetics has made some of the most significant investments in influencers across the entire beauty industry — including spending a reported $10 million on influencer initiatives to support its BadGal Bang Volumizing Mascara launch this month, according to a WWD article published on Feb. 13, 1018. “If Benefit gets credible info on an influencer with a lot of fake followers, we simply stop working with them, Toto Haba, senior vice president global digital at Benefit, told WWD.”

So, how can a fashion, beauty or retail brand identify fake followers? Well there are a few paid tools that can estimate the percentage of fake followers on an account, including InfluencerDB, SocialBakers, Social Audit Pro and SocialBlade. Therefore, before you shell out a vast amount of your advertising budget on an influencer, don’t forget to do your homework and work with these tools to help identify fake followers.

Amidst the recent Facebook scandal, where millions of people’s identity and privacy were compromised and used to turn several global political elections, and with talk now of government regulation, how long will it take for more transparency on social media when it comes to fake influencers? We are truly living in the 21st century’s version of the Wild West. Bring on the sheriff and the cavalry!